James S. Brady Press Briefing Room
2:35 P.M. EST
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: All right. I heard a "oh, wow." I'm not even going to ask why. (Laughter.)
All right. Good afternoon, everyone.
Q Good afternoon.
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: I just have one — one thing at the top for all of you. First, I want to — to wish a Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate.
This evening, the President and the First Lady will host a Hanukkah reception at the White House. Following a blessing and the menorah lighting, the President will address the rise of antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world, and reiterate that we must continue to forcefully reject all form of hate, antisemitism, and violence in our country.
The President and First Lady will also mark a new tradition: adding the first-ever White House menorah to the White House collection, marking the first Jewish artifact to be added to the White House archives, which was made by the White House Carpentry Shop.
Last week, the President launched a new effort to develop a national strategy to counter the scourge of antisemitism. Earlier this year, he convened a first-of-its-kind summit to combat hate-fueled violence. The President has secured the largest increase in federal funding ever for the physical security and — and [of] non-profits, including synagogue and Jewish community centers.
With that, Darlene, you want to kick us off?
Q Yes, ma'am. Is there any comment that you'd like to offer on the fact that the January 6th Committee is — has held its final public hearing, is wrapping up its work, is preparing to release the report on Wednesday?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So I'll first say, and you've heard me say this many times, and the President as well: We've been very clear from the beginning that what we saw on January 6th was the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War. And the President has been very clear: Our democracy continues and remains under threat, and we all have a — have a part to protect it.
The committee has been doing important bipartisan work to get to the truth of what happened on that very day so we can — we can make — so we can make sure that that doesn't happen again. So I'll leave it there.
Q What about the committee's referrals of four members of Congress to the House Ethics Committee for ignoring subpoenas to participate in the investigation?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, you know what, Darlene, that's a very good question. And what I would say to you is that you would have to ask those — those very Republicans their own — to speak for their own actions here and have them explain themselves.
Look, I'm not going to get into the weeds of the investigation from here and the process. But, again, you should have them explain themselves on this very issue.
Q And one last question. Republican-led states have asked the Supreme Court to intervene and not allow Title 42 to expire on Wednesday, as a different court has said. Is there any reaction to that? And is the administration in some way hoping that the Court will intervene and extend Title 42 to help you all out of this situation that is brewing at the border?
MS. JEAN-PIERRE: So, look, I'm not going to get into any legal determinations or speculations or, you know, jump — get ahead of the process here. DOJ is clearly leading this investigation. What I can tell you is what the Homeland — Homeland Security has been doing.
As you all know, Secretary Mayorkas was at — was at the border just last week. He talked about how they are surging resources to the border, and we have additional robust planning underway.
But we need Congress to give us the funds we've requested to do this in a safe, orderly, and humane way. And here's the thing: If Republican in Congress are serious about protecting the border, if they are serious about securing the border, if they are serious about the challenges that we're currently seeing, that they should be able to — be able to get involved here and make sure that the men and women of the Department of Homeland Security have the resources they need — they are going to need to do their jobs.
I know you guys are seeing some charts behind me. But, again, just listing out this is what is needed. This is what we're asking — that $3.5 billion of a funding request that we're asking of Congress.
And also, this is what we have been doing to surge resources at the border to deal with — to address the — the — when the — when Title 42 is — has to be lifted on Wednesday.
Go ahead.
